It was only a matter of time, of that we have no doubt. Complaints about the Windows 10 upgrade process have multiplied across the web, but after suffering multiple technical problems, a California woman not only sued the Redmond giant, but received the sum of ten thousand dollars in compensation for lost profits and the cost of a new computer. While the case may be too isolated to serve as precedent, it confirmed something we have repeated for months: Microsoft's internal policies are in conflict with its users.
One of the worst situations anyone can face with a computer is discovering that it doesn't work the next day, and urgently needing it for work, study, or communication. Whether or not there are backups, what's often missing is hardware redundancy—another computer to take the place of the broken terminal until the problem is solved. Component failures are an everyday occurrence, but a crisis like that becomes much more irritating when it's caused by an action or mechanism that supposedly should benefit the user. The Windows 10 upgrade qualifies as one of those actions. In recent months I have had to "rescue" several computers from automatic installations that get "stuck" along the way, and although the bad moment disappears once the computer works again, a woman from Sausalito, California decided the damage suffered was too great and sued Microsoft.
The case of Teri Goldstein
The Seattle Times reports that a few days after the debut of Windows 10 on the market, Teri Goldstein, owner of a small travel agency, received a Windows 10 update that she never authorized, and as if that weren't enough, it failed. Goldstein said she "had never heard" about Windows 10, and that "nobody asked her" whether she wanted to do the upgrade. Her computer was left in a much worse condition than before, with multiple errors, unstable, and directly impossible to use for days. After prolonged contact with Microsoft's customer service, which was unable to fix the problem, Goldstein took Microsoft to court and received a favorable verdict. The total sum calculated is ten thousand dollars, combining the concept of lost profits and the cost of a new computer.
As expected, Microsoft denied any intent to harm or malicious attitude on its part. Initially it tried to appeal the ruling, but last month it dropped the appeal, because the cost of sustaining the litigation probably exceeds the amount of compensation. We are talking about a process that lasted almost a year, and still, the question remains: Will it serve as a precedent? Meanwhile, Microsoft again updated its guide to disable the Windows 10 notification...
Seattle Times
